Biggleswade United ease into top ten

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Published:13:11Tuesday 23 February 2016

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Biggleswade United moved into the top ten of the SSML Premier after a 2-1 victory over St Margaretsbury on Saturday.

Another bumper crowd at Second Meadow saw Cristian Colás’ side boss the first half proceedings and on a near perfect playing surface they were able to apply their fast pace game which, although hampered by the swirling wind, created plenty of goal scoring opportunities.

It took just eight minutes for United to get off the starting blocks. Tom Cookman picked up the ball from deep and planted it into James Cooper’s path on the overlap.

The cross from Cooper found Charlie Joy, making his home debut, and although his strike was blocked it fell neatly to Matt Cooper who drilled home for 1-0.

United continued to make all the running and it was Cookman again who took advantage of the open space down the right flank to play in Scott Batchelor but the Bury keeper was quick of his line to clear for a corner. A hattrick of corners for United followed and it took a flurry of last ditched defending to deny the home side a second goal.

Cookman was denied in the 25th minute by Bury’s ‘evergreen’ keeper Richard Hayward and three minutes later Batchelor had everyone off their seats as he flicked the ball over the head of a defender and volleyed inches over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.

But with their first corner of the game, Bury equalised when skipper, Michael Cooper, was left abandoned by the United defence to head home with ease past United’s Tom Wyant.

With nine minutes of the half remaining Hayward instructed his players to batten down the hatches but his words were clearly lost in translation as within two minutes United had restored the lead.

A composed Batchelor beat the Bury offside trap and spotting Joy on the edge of the six yard area he laid the ball back and Joy side footed home for his first goal for his new team and take United in 2-1 up at the break.

The second period saw the game succumb to the conditions and the players from both sides struggled to get to grips with the unpredictable gales that swirled around the ground.

With the wind advantage, the Bury, continually launched the ball forward to their strikers but United skipper Lee Bilcock and Nyasha Sagwete were rock solid in the heart of the back line. ‘Keeper, Tom Wyant, had only a handful of high balls to contend with all of which he plucked out of the air with relative ease.

United introduced substitutes, Luke Jones, Stuart Richardson and Mohammed Hashem in the final 20 minutes and it was the latter who was unlucky to have a clear penalty decision waved away that could have put the game to bed.

Another three points in the bag for United as they look to make that top ten place a reality as the season grinds to a close.